Rahul to meet students in Azamgarh

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"Students of the Shibli National College are keen to meet him. They appealed to us for his visit," state party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi told IANS.

Declining to specify dates for Rahul Gandhi's visit, she said it would take place whenever he goes to eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Joshi, who visited Azamgarh last week along with party general secretary Digvijay Singh, said they had conveyed the request of the students to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Joshi said Rahul Gandhi's visit would also allay suspicions about Azamgarh being "a nursery of terror". "The psyche of youth (in Azamgarh) is badly affected," she said.

Joshi said the college, which has one of the largest libraries in the country, had been visited by stalwarts of the freedom struggle, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

"It is a great institution and a symbol of our composite culture," she said, adding it was founded by Allama Shibli Nomani, a nationalist.

Joshi said the college would be "a great place" for Rahul Gandhi's visit in the 125th year of the party's formation.

Following their visit to Azamgarh, where they received petitions from the families of young men arrested on terrorism charges, Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders demanded special courts to fast-track their cases.

Digvijay Singh Tuesday submitted a report to the party president about his Azamgarh visit. He said there should be free, fair and speedy trial in terrorism cases faced by youth from the town.